Summary
Lambda Legal filed a federal lawsuit against the Commissioner of the Social Security Administration (SSA) on behalf of Dave Williams, a widower now living in Chicago, who was denied spousal benefits after the death of his husband, Carl Allen.

Lambda Legal filed suit against the Social Security Administration (SSA) on behalf of Kathy Murphy, a Texas widow denied spousal benefits after the death of her wife, and the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare (the National Committee), arguing that denying Social Security benefits to same-sex spouses because they live in states that discriminate against their marriages violates the U.S. Constitution.

Lambda Legal joined the legal team representing a total of seven Louisiana same-sex couples and the Forum for Equality Louisiana, the state’s LGBT rights organization, in their appeal to the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals of last month’s U.S. District Court ruling upholding Louisiana’s discriminatory marriage ban.

This suit, against the Secretary of Veterans Affairs on behalf of the American Military Partner Association (“AMPA”), argues that the denial of benefits to same-sex spouses of veterans living in states that refuse to recognize their marriages is in violation of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision striking down the so-called Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA).

Lambda Legal has joined a lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Puerto Rico seeking the freedom to marry for same-sex couples in Puerto Rico and to compel Puerto Rico to recognize the legal marriages of same-sex couples entered into in other jurisdictions.